Please check out Rob Miller's great post on "Important Training Distinction for Climbers" for context.
My experience is consistent with Rob Miller's thoughts. Keeping 100% intensity in my climbing training program has yielded consistent gains. Like Rob Miller, I widely modulate volume at that intensity based on my current cycle and goals.
I propose further refinement of that concept - learning to not apply that intensity unnecessarily during performance. Training at 100% "greases a groove" which is suboptimal during performance, especially in sport climbing. It is common to see sport climbers fall off because they do not properly modulate their effort. I tend to pull too hard, too often. The same concept also applies to bouldering. It is unusual for a boulder problem to require 100% effort for more than 1 move. The ability put forward 100% effort and then put foward much less effort is an essential aspect of the art of climbing performance.
I geared a part of my training towards improving my ability to self-modulate effort. It is the ying to the yang of 100% intensity.
